


Long Distance.

by Alcalexandria



Category: Dark Fate - Fandom, Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator Dark Fate, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: F/F, PWP, Phone Sex, Porn with Feelings, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22872991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcalexandria/pseuds/Alcalexandria
Summary: Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line.
Relationships: Grace Harper/Dani Ramos
Comments: 7
Kudos: 110





	Long Distance.

Grace closed the hatch behind her and switched on the light. Dani’s quarters were colder, and tidier, than she was used to seeing them. They’d been unoccupied for months now, long enough for her to feel a little like she was trespassing. Even she hadn’t realized how much of the room Dani filled when she was here.

She went to Dani’s desk, and picked up the radio handset. It was a hard line, and the receiver set was incongruously old fashioned, a repurposed rotary phone that would ring with a bell rather than an electronic tone. It reminded Grace of an old toy phone her brother had when they were kids. He would drag it behind him on a string and it would make random animal noises no matter what button you pushed. Even by then though, it didn't look like any phone she'd seen anyone use for real.

She was early, having run to get here on time, and had to wait a few minutes.

The phone rang exactly on the hour; she answered in the middle of the first ring.

***

“Brooklyn, Gallows.”

“Sunburst, Iowa.”

There’s a sigh of relief on the other end of the line.

“God, it’s good to hear you.”

Grace laughs.

“You too. I don’t like being in your room when you’re not here though, it’s too quiet.”

Dani chuckles fondly. Grace can be more charming than she means to be sometimes.

“I wanted to be able to talk to you somewhere private. This is probably the most secure line in human civilization, so it will have to do.”

Grace pauses, trying not to sound disappointed. The comms hall booths have always been private enough for their social calls before. She doesn't like what this might mean.

“Is uh… is this an operational call? Do you need me to do something for you?”

“No, God, no,” Dani reassures her, picking up on her dismay instantly. “I promise it’s personal. But… I do need you to do something for me.”

“Sure, anything,” Grace says, brightening. She’s far more relieved than she’d admit that the call she’s been looking forward to all day isn’t just to talk shop.

“I’m glad you say that,” Dani says.

Grace thinks she can hear the curl of a smile in her voice.

“I’ll walk you through step by step, just listen.”

“Okay…” Grace says, puzzled, but she doesn't enquire outright. She trusts Dani enough to keep her curiosity in check for now.

“Good. Now, I want you to open your shirt, and unbutton your pants.”

Grace is almost audibly surprised, and for a second Dani worries.

She wishes she could see her face, so she might guess if she’s misjudged, or at least have some idea of what’s going through her head.

A few anxious moments pass, but then sure enough, she hears a shuffle of movement.

She hears the slow pop of buttons. One. Two. Three. Another. Another. Another. And then an awkward rustle, what she imagines to be the sound of someone pulling open their pants one handed.

There’s a pause then, like Grace is standing to attention, awaiting the next instruction.

It's an appealing image.

“Good,” Dani says.

Grace can hear relief again, like Dani hadn't been totally sure she’d go along with it. She enjoys it greatly.

The next pause comes from Dani’s side.

“Now I want you to touch yourself for me. Now, while I'm here. I'd like to listen. Would you do that?”

There’s silence on the line for another long moment. Long enough for Dani to start worrying again, even after getting this far.

Whether Grace is really hesitating, or just making her sweat, she can’t tell. It's even odds.

Eventually, the receiver scuffles as it's swapped from one hand to the other.

“Yes.”

Dani is surprised to discover she’s been holding her breath. She hopes Grace can't tell. She can.

“Good. Thank you. Thank you Grace. But don’t start yet. The line reaches all the way to the bed.”

Grace says nothing, but _this_ silence is loaded.

“Yes, I checked before I left.”

Grace doesn’t respond now either, but her point is made, and Dani can almost see her satisfied expression from two states away.

A few footsteps, and she hears the familiar creak of her own bed as Grace climbs onto it and settles.

Grace was used to the bed feeling too small; the first thing she notices tonight is that it feels far too big. 

“Are you there?”

“I’m here.”

Grace sighs a little wistfully.

“-Pillow smells like you.”

Dani closes her eyes.

“Hadn’t thought of that. You still wearing your dirty boots on my bed?”

“We had inspections today, they’re pristine, I promise.”

“Better be. Get comfortable. Bend your knees up, open your legs just a little.”

She hears the bed move again.

“Okay.”

“I want you to run your hand up your stomach for me. Nothing else, just that. And close your eyes.”

Grace does, thinking about how many times Dani has done that before. She was not shy about her thing for Grace's muscles - and her stomach muscles in particular - whenever they were lying together. The fascination was a little lost on Grace, but she certainly didn’t mind it.

For her part, she loved how soft Dani’s body was beneath her hands, how precious and vulnerable she was without her body armor or her uniform. How she was willing to be that with Grace, that she would and could grant her that privilege. To know how warm, bright and alive she really was was a gift, and she treasured it. Dani was a force of her own in the field, and dominated any operations room she walked into, but she was _luminous_ in private.

Grace wasn't religious. Her parents had been, and even named her for it; but she had seen far too much for any of that. She knew that on this whole grey, burnt and barren earth, there was no higher power possible than the one Dani had, to make people want to be better than they’d ever had to be before.

She could understand the idea though, sometimes, when she had Dani to herself. She understood then how someone could pay themselves, body and soul, into something or someone else, and know they were richer for it.

Grace often wished she could tell her any of that, in a way that didn’t feel clumsy or so dumbed down as to mean nothing, but she was never good at that stuff. She tried to show Dani how she felt instead, whenever they were alone together. Never quite felt enough either - but she hoped it counted for something.

She –

“- just wish you were here,” she murmurs.

“I wish I was too,” Dani agrees, sincerely, pulling Grace back to reality, “I wish I was home, in bed, with you, touching your body, the way you are now for me.”

The cool air of the room seems to bring Grace’s skin alive to her own touch in a way she hadn’t expected. She feels like she’s aware of each individual nerve all of a sudden.

“Are you wearing a bra?”

“Yeah, should I- “

“Just push it up off you. Use your left hand, I want you to be gentle- “

“The way you would- “

“Yeah.”

Grace nods to herself and complies, gently caressing her breast, teasing her nipple here and there. A little awkward, but she and Dani usually had to steal their time and space together and "awkward" wasn’t entirely new. And she feels so sensitive to everything tonight anyway. God, she wished Dani was here.

“You like me to get a little pushier with you right about now, don’t you?”

“Yes,” and Dani can hear her nod emphatically.

“A little harder then. Pinch -“

“ _Ah_ ”

“- if you need to.”

Dani lets herself enjoy Grace’s hassled little breaths for a while before regaining her focus.

“Can you keep the receiver steady on the pillow?”

She hears Grace experiment for a moment, and notes with amusement she doesn’t seem to stop what she’s doing in the process.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Dani can tell Grace is already barely aware she’s still caressing and massaging her own breast; it’s become automatic, her rapidly gathering arousal has already become part of her elemental makeup.

Dani wonders how long she’d carry on like that if she let her; how long she would wait faithfully for her next instruction, just on trust. But it’s not what she has in mind.

“Okay. Now I want you to bring your right hand down to your belly, and wait.”

“Okay.”

There’s a spark of anticipation on the line, and neither knows if it’s their own or each other’s.

They can hear each other breathe.

For a few moments they just listen to each other, enjoying how obviously the pace of each breath is picking up.

Dani speaks first, of course, though she is wicked -

“So. Are you wearing the nice fatigues today? For your inspection and all?”

“Dani I swear to God-”

“Shh now. Behave or I’ll make you _really_ wait.”

Grace gives a muffled little grunt of frustration, but she smiles too. She’s used that line in recent memory, and she's more than a little pleased to learn Dani hasn’t forgiven her for it.

“I want you to slide your hand down your body into your pants. Slowly, I want everything slow unless I say otherwise.”

She hears Grace’s breath release as she pushes her fingers past her waistband, into her underwear.

She pictures Grace’s open fatigues pulling down past her hipbones as she does, catching there at the top of her thighs. She listens for the movement on the bed, and the tension in the quiet.

“Now. I want you to start touching yourself.“

She hears nothing. And then a long, thick unmistakable breath.

“Slowly. Go slow, just getting started, we’re going nowhere fast, okay?”

“ _Oh.“_ Grace says, but it's clearly not in response to anything Dani's said.

“Grace, okay?”

_“Okay.”_

Grace lets herself think about the first time Dani touched her the way she's touching herself now - not as long ago as it seemed - and how gentle she’d been. It had disarmed her a little; she was used to quicker, rougher, more selfish. More soldierlike, she supposed. She hadn’t expected the Commander to be so…

She just… hadn’t been like that.

She’d been almost loving with her, right from the start. A lover. Dani was a generous lover, in a way Grace somehow hadn’t suspected.

A deep dark part of her sometimes wondered if she was the last person alive to know this about her as a fact. A deeper and darker part yet quite liked to think so.

Dani hears Grace’s voice hitch.

“Slow now. Circles for now, we’re going to take our time. Alright?”

“Mhmm.”

“Okay. One to ten, where are you, and don’t stop.”

“ _Ah_ … six?”

“Okay. Don’t stop. Keep going. Keep going. Tell me how you feel.”

“It’s… it’s good. I wish… your mouth.”

“I know. I know. But I love that you’re doing this for me. I love hearing you do this. You give me so much of yourself Grace, I don't know how... You're just... so good.”

_“Dani-”_

“You’re so good to me. You do so much for me. I know you want to do anything I ask you to. But all I want is give you what you want, I wish I could. I wish I could give you everything. God, you’re perfect and you don’t even know it.”

“F _uck!”_

“Shh now, not too loud. I know people use that corridor for PT when I’m off base," Dani says, hoping that's not too cruel a tease.

“ _Fuck..._ ” Grace says again, this time through gritted teeth.

“Don’t stop. Keep yourself right there.”

Grace moans.

“Can you do that? Stay right there.”

“Okay _. Ah-_ Okay.”

“You know you skipped ahead earlier. I let you away with it, but from now on, you follow my instructions exactly. No racing ahead. Okay?”

She can _feel_ how hard Grace is having to concentrate, to pay attention.

“Yes.”

“I mean it.”

_“Yes.”_

“- Or I’ll cut this line and leave you hanging, I promise. For the next few weeks or months or however long it is until I’m back.”

 _“No!”_ she cries, desperate.

Dani smiles to herself fondly at Grace’s distress. She’s pretty sure it’s an empty threat, even if Grace doesn’t seem to know it - and anyway, she'd probably handle it better than Dani could.

“Good. This is so good, I can't believe how good you've been to me. I know it's hard. Do you think you could hold out another half an hour like this? Tell me, honestly, I know I’m asking so much”

Grace’s breaths get almost panicked.

Not because Dani’s asking for _half an hour_ more in this awful, sublime limbo – but because she’s afraid she might not manage it. She’s afraid she might let her down.

 _Oh Grace,_ Dani thinks to herself. _You’re incredible._

“Don’t know -” she answers finally, the strain clear in her voice, and Dani pities her terribly even though she’s the one doing it to her.

“I know you’d try. God, I know you’d try to do anything for me, I swear I know that, you’d try so hard, you're so good like this.”

Grace gasps.

“Stay focused, please just stay focused. It’s okay, I’m not going to ask you for that long, not until I’m there to see it. It’ll be over soon, okay?”

Grace gasps again, and _just_ manages to catch herself.

“No, not yet. Just focus on what I say. I need you to listen to me, very carefully, and _only_ do what I say. Okay?”

“H _ah-_ Okay.”

“Okay. Only what I say. Don’t stop, but only what I say. I want you to go further now, as if you’re trying to come. But don’t. Try not to until I say, okay? Just try. I know you’ll try.”

She hears Grace moan again.

“Okay Grace?”

_“Yes-”_

“No more circles, no more slow. I want you to give yourself exactly what you’d want. What you’d want me to give you. Everything. Just don’t come yet.”

Grace thinks she might lose her fucking mind. She needs to come, she can’t bear to, she has to, she can’t. She feels like her body’s at war with itself, how is it even possible to want two opposing things so entirely!?

“Grace?”

Grace drives her face into the pillow against the receiver, trying to keep herself in check even as her own fingertips work her out of her own control. She struggles against the impulse to close her thighs around her hand, she struggles _desperately_ to keep herself on the tightrope; even as she keeps going faster, and harder, and further. She's - God, she's aggressive with herself she needs it that much, but she won't. She will not.

“Grace?”

It would be so easy. It would be so good.

 _“Yes?!”_ she manages, by a sheer force of will.

“I can’t wait to get back to you. I love you.”

“Dani _please,_ I can’t- “

“It’s okay. You can come now, my love. You were amazing.”

Grace cries out into the pillow and feels her body erupt.

The release hits her so hard and lasts for so long she can barely understand that's what’s happening. She has no control over it, her body isn’t hers – it’s just being done to her, something immense she can’t even recognize before she’s lost in it. It hijacks her muscles and they stop making any sense; it floods through her nerves without slowing, and she can’t tell one sensation from the other. Nothing apart from pleasure. _Everything_ is that, every part of her, every direction. It’s vast. How could this possibly only be happening inside of her?

Useless to try fighting it, controlling it. Even comprehending it. All she will do is experience it, even if it lasts forever.

For all she knows, it does.

She can still hear her own guttural, compulsive noises, as if she’s not the one making them, as she finally starts coasting back to her senses.

***

She’s still trembling, and spasming now and then, starved for breath, when she realizes Dani is still on the line.

“...Dani…?”

She hasn't a clue what she’s even trying to ask.

“God, I’m here. That was just… oh, Grace.”

Grace smiles drowsily to nobody and lets herself drop against the pillow, vaguely aware she’s probably panting right into the receiver.

“Uh huh,” she says, probably just because they’re easy words to say.

“Are you okay?”

Grace gives herself a few more moments to catch her breath, and try to form some actual thoughts.

“I… yeah. It was good. Really good. Fuck.”

She tries steadying her breaths, but the aftershocks are still jumping her unpredictably.

“Really good."

There's a thoughtful gap.

"Really good... but?"

Grace decides against trying to lie. She's in no shape for it.

"Feels a little weird to come back down alone.”

She hears movement on the line.

“I’m so sorry Grace, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“No, don’t be sorry, it was great. It was… new, really great. Don’t think I didn’t enjoy it.”

Dani can at least believe that; she can hear a slightly dopey grin dripping all over Grace’s voice.

“So… worth doing again sometime or…?”

Grace takes the receiver in her still limp left hand and shifts on the bed.

“Absolutely. Worth doing again. Worth doing to you maybe. You have private quarters where you are?”

“No, sadly,” and even as addled as she is Grace appreciates the edge of frustration she can hear.

She gives a sleepy chuckle - but stops abruptly.

“Wait, are you telling me you’re in a booth in a comms hall right now?”

“…”

“Dani, Jesus.”

“None of the next few booths are in use.”

“Shit, I hope not. I thought I was performing for an audience of one.”

Dani laughs back.

“You were, and she loved it. God, she really loved it. Thank you, so much, for everything. I’m going to have to go soon. I’m sorry, again, that I’m not there. There are fresh clothes for you in the footlocker, it’s not locked.”

Grace smiles, sincerely. Of course there is.

“It felt good just to be this close to you for a while. Been a long few months. Can I ask...?”

“Yeah?”

“Any reason I can’t sleep here?”

“No. No reason at all. I’ll mention to some of the officers I was picking your brains about new recruits all night. They already know you were awaiting a super important ops call, right?”

Grace smiles again.

“Right. Thanks.”

Grace takes a deep breath, and Dani recognizes it instantly. She’s starting to drift off to sleep.

“Can I stay on the line for a while?”

“Mmm, sure. If you don’t mind hearing me snore.”

“I’d love nothing more than to listen to you snore all night.”

“Hmmm.”

Grace is asleep within minutes.

True to her word, Dani listens to her long afterwards. She listens to her sleep for nearly ten minutes over a hard won, carefully protected secure line from two states away. Dani doesn’t feel one bit guilty about using it for this purpose - she didn’t ask for much in the way of luxury, and this one has been bought and paid for long ago.

Grace does snore, gently, but she must have been exhausted. She’d come here right off duty, and Dani knows it must be busy back there in preparation. “Inspections” were probably only the half of it.

She is still asleep when Dani closes the hatch behind her early the next morning, though at some point she did manage to strip off most of her uniform. She’s clutching the pillow and a bundle of blankets tightly, her long body contracted into a huddle around them.

Her powerful build can make her fearsome to people sometimes – and to her credit, Grace seems unaware just how intimidating she is to many of the new intakes – but somehow the form of her muscular shoulders, curved over a knot of bedclothes, only underlines how vulnerable she seems now.

Dani sits on the edge of the rack, and then lies into the bed alongside her, dirty boots and all.

Confused and only half awake, Grace turns toward her. She looks her over with bleary eyes that light up and then close again just as quickly.

She’ll ask for an explanation later. She’ll be mad at herself for not figuring out what the inspections and all that bullshit was in preparation for, and a little mad at Dani for not telling her. Dani will tell her she wanted it to be a surprise, and, well, it will be a coinflip on whether that makes her less mad or more.

For now though, she’s content to wordlessly wrap her arms around Dani and pull her in, tucking her easily under her chin, and bending in to rest a kiss on her crown. Dani is more than content to let her.


End file.
